Feroz Khan

Feroz Khan, who has died aged 69, was an Indian actor and producer who became
one of Bollywood's biggest stars; with his swagger and tough-guy styling he
was compared to American leading men like Clint Eastwood or Steve McQueen.

7:06PM BST 27 Apr 2009

He based one typically all-action picture, Dharmatma (1975), on Francis Ford Coppola's Oscar-winning film, The Godfather, and starred in another as a suave racing driver who wins the world championship. Later he appeared in a series of cowboy films that aped the Spaghetti westerns of Sergio Leone – they became known as Curry Westerns.

Despite his efforts to internationalise Bollywood films, Khan was faithful to many of the tropes of the genre. He struck up smouldering onscreen relationships with a host of India's leading ladies; specialised in elaborate song-and-dance routines; and could throw a punch with the best of them.

Indeed, the only quibble some critics had was with his acting. It was suggested that his brawny physique and square-jawed poses masked a wooden style. But when, shirt half-unbuttoned, he was filmed fending off motorcycle-mounted assailants, or staring deep into the eyes of his favourite partner, Mumtaz, it didn't seem to matter: he was one of Bollywood's favourite heart-throbs.

Feroz Khan was born on September 25 1939 in Bangalore, southern India. His father had Afghan roots and his mother was of Iranian origin; they sent Feroz to a school from whose equally cosmopolitan students he acquired an English accent – something that was later to fuel the comparisons to Western actors.

As a young man he moved to Mumbai, hoping to break into the film business, winning his first part in Didi (1960). The role was, like many of his parts over the next few years (often in low-budget thrillers), unremarkable.

His breakthrough came in 1965, when he appeared in a pair of releases that showed his versatility. In the black and white drama Oonche Log, he played a tearaway who refuses to marry his girlfriend after she falls pregnant; Arzoo, however, is a sickly-sweet romance in which he performed opposite some of India's biggest stars of the day, propelling him towards the roster of Bollywood's A-list.

The films typified Khan's ability to avoid being typecast. For the duration of his career, he was accepted equally as a gun-toting gangster, romantic lead, or mixture of the two.

In the late 1960s he thrived as a supporting actor, winning the first of many prizes for Aadmi Aur Insaan (1969), as one of a pair of close friends who fall out over a girl.

Deprived of leading roles, though, Khan decided to set up his own production company. His debut as producer, and leading man, was Apradh (1972), whose plot intertwines the glamorous worlds of Formula One and jewel theft.

The next eight years transformed his career, as his buccaneering combination of traditional Bollywood themes with American plots and fashions won him legions of fans.

When Dharmatma, shot in Afghanistan, proved a huge success, Khan was firmly established in the big league. In 1980 he followed it up with his biggest triumph, Qurbani, another gangster film, but one that stood out for its use of exotic foreign locations.

The film was to prove the peak of Khan's career. In the 1980s he acted less, and directed more, but his productions were flops as often as hits, and by 1992 he had decided to take a break from the industry.

It was only in the early years of this decade that he got fully back into the business, partly to help with the acting career of his son, Fardeen.

His comeback was hit by the news that he had cancer, and his final screen appearance was in the comedy crime caper Welcome (2007), in which he plays a mafia boss in Dubai.

Feroz Khan, who died on Sunday, married, in 1965, Sundari; they divorced in 1985. She survives him with their son and daughter. In 2006 he announced a remake of Qurbani, with his son in the lead. According to his agent, his final wish was that the film be finished.